Susan's life under the raindrops

Spring birdies and flowers!

May 12, 2008

It seems like suddenly the trees have leafed out in a riot of green, bursting with life. We were in Burnaby over the weekend and we parked along a street lined with cherry trees in full blossom. Petals were falling like pink snowflakes, forming drifts of delicate pink along the curb. I saw a man using his snow brush to clear petals off his car.

It has been a cool beginning to the month and the tulips and other flowers are still around. They are in bloom and close up on cool days and then open up in the mild weather. The gorgeous tulip in my kitchen flower box has lasted over two weeks. A squirrel planted it there a few years ago, it is my only one.

Yesterday morning I was standing in my driveway and I noticed the Western Tanigers have arrived. They are bright yellow and red birds, about the size of a canary that nest here. They have lovely voices and are beautiful to watch. We counted around 8-10 flying through the trees. This morning there were two in the flowering tree we have in the back yard, nipping up the bugs in the blossoms.

This week I had another seasonal visitor. A hummingbird landed on clothes line just outside my kitchen window. They are really small and quick. Both the hummingbird and the tanigers are too quick for me to get out the camera.

My front flower bed is being worked by the honey bees again. They really love the geraniums that bloom before the rhododendron. I am so happy to see them again. I heard that in some places the bees are dying off. They are so essential to life on the planet that it makes me smile knowing that they are doing well here.

Jeff has gotten himself a new rotary (push) lawnmower. It is pretty sweet, since it is manual it doesn’t make any noise, and he says it does a good job even if the lawn is damp, which it is most of the time here.

The grass is growing especially well around the compost bin. Today we stopped at Starbucks and when I asked they gave me a bag of their used coffee grounds. They are an excellent additive for the compost, and act as an accelerator. I am sure the worms love the caffeine rush. I can’t think of the worms in my bin without having the song run through my head from the old WKRP show; Red Wigglers, we’re the Cadillac of worms!